-LRB- CNN Student News -RRB- -- October 14 , 2009

Quick Guide

Health Care - Map out the next steps for a health care plan after a Senate committee vote .

Why 40,000 ? - Explore the math on a U.S. commander 's request for more troops in Afghanistan .

Before We Go - Visit an old-fashioned ice cream parlor that 's serving up the kitchen sink .

Transcript

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT . THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED .

CARL AZUZ , CNN STUDENT NEWS ANCHOR : I scream , you scream , we all scream for CNN Student News ! Reporting from the CNN Center in Atlanta , I 'm Carl Azuz .

First Up : Health Care

AZUZ : 14 for , 9 against . That 's how the votes stacked up yesterday when the Senate Finance Committee voted on a health care proposal , and that was enough for the proposal to pass . Committee Chairman Max Baucus , a Democrat who helped write the bill -- called the Baucus Bill -- he called it a balanced plan . But the committee 's top Republican says he 's concerned about the direction that the bill might take health care in America . Now one thing we want to point out , this vote is just part of the process . Jessica Yellin looks at how we reached this point and where the debate is going from here .

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JESSICA YELLIN , CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT : There have been at least 60 hearings , more than $ 124 million of TV ads , one presidential address , and an unknowable number of status updates . Finally , it 's game day . Off the blocks , Chairman Baucus was feeling strong .

YELLIN : It 's going to pass today ?

SEN. MAX BAUCUS -LRB- D-MT -RRB- , FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN : Yep , yep , yep . Big day .

YELLIN : But all eyes were on Senator Olympia Snowe , the one Republican who might vote yes . Would she ?

SEN. OLYMPIA SNOWE , -LRB- R -RRB- MAINE : Let 's say I 'm sorting through all the issues .

YELLIN : All this attention , all this interest .

BAUCUS : The meeting will come to order .

YELLIN : This must be the final decision on health care reform , right ? Wrong .

This is just the vote of one Senate committee . Next , their bill has to be stitched together with another bill passed by a different Senate committee , and that new health care bill will go to a full vote of the U.S. Senate . So , you think that 's it , one more vote and health care reform is done ? Oh no . Over here at the House of Representatives , they are working on their own health care bill that would be paid for differently and include some type of public option . If that passes , then you have two health care bills , one from the House and one from the Senate . Here 's the home stretch . Those two bills have to be merged before the full Congress can make the big vote on health care reform . Simple , right ?

So , why is everyone taking this vote so seriously ? It 's serious because this committee has been the biggest roadblock to passing health care reform . And Republican Olympia Snowe announced she 's voting yes .

SNOWE : They want us to continue working .

YELLIN : At least for now , the White House can claim a smidge of bipartisan support , and health care inches forward to the next step .

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I.D. Me

TOMEKA JONES , CNN STUDENT NEWS : See if you can I.D. Me ! I 'm an Asian country that 's a little smaller than the state of Texas . On an alphabetical list of the world 's countries , I come first ! Most of my terrain is made up of rugged mountains . And in 1996 , the Taliban took control of my capital city of Kabul . I 'm Afghanistan , where the Taliban was removed from power in 2001 by the U.S.-led military forces .

Why 40,000 ?

AZUZ : There are 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan right now helping to fight the Taliban . The group that used to control the country has regained strength in recent years . A top American commander said 40,000 additional forces are needed to win that fight . That 's a recommendation that many lawmakers , both Democrats and Republicans , are urging President Obama to follow . How did the commander come up with that number though ? 40,000 , what 's that all about ? Chris Lawrence has the answer .

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CHRIS LAWRENCE , CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT : One hundred thousand American and allied troops are already fighting in Afghanistan . To understand why it 's believed General Stanley McChrystal wants 40,000 more , you need to look at a map the way military strategists see it .

KIMBERLY KAGAN , ADVISER TO GEN. MCCHRYSTAL : What 40,000 does is fill in the gaps around Kandahar , around Khost , in Helmand Province . It does not , however , cover the entire country .

LAWRENCE : Kimberly Kagan is an adviser to McChrystal . She says it 's the minimum number to root out the Taliban and identify and protect potential Afghan partners . But the military 's own counter-insurgency ratio dictates it would take well over half a million troops to secure Afghanistan 's 33 million people . But General McChrystal is not applying this ratio to all of Afghanistan . He feels certain parts of the country are peaceful enough , like the north , or just not as important , like the west , that they do n't need the same number of counter-insurgency fighters as these areas do .

KAGAN : And that 's what gets him from a figure of hundreds of thousands of troops down to a figure such as 40,000 or 60,000 troops .

LAWRENCE : Kagan says McChrystal would use those troops to turn the tide , so the Taliban does n't control every other town . She says 10,000 or even 20,000 troops just are n't enough .

KAGAN : It 's not as though we can simply plug half as many holes with half as many troops and somehow seize the initiative from the enemy . On the contrary , half as many troops will probably leave us pinned down as we are .

LAWRENCE : The problem is roughly 25 million Afghans live in thousands of small , rural villages scattered all over an area the size of Texas . Up to 80 percent of the population could still be out of reach for coalition troops . So , when 30,000 American troops surged into Baghdad , that 's where one out of every four Iraqis lived . Even if you take the top 30 most populated areas of Afghanistan , you 'd still only account for 20 percent of the population . That 's how rural and spread out it is . Chris Lawrence , CNN , Washington .

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Severe Weather

AZUZ : Severe weather causing problems even when you think it would n't . Rain in an area that just struggled through fire . That might sound like a good thing , but experts are afraid it could make the situation even worse in parts of California . You remember the wildfires we told you about recently . Well , there is a storm that forecasters are calling the first major one of the season and it is pounding the state with strong winds and heavy rains . Officials are concerned that when those rains hit the land that 's already been scorched by the wildfires , it could trigger dangerous floods and landslides .

A few states to the north , you see where that road ends ? That 's not intentional . It 's the result of a landslide in Washington state . One resident said the whole face of the mountain just came off . It was n't caused by an earthquake . It was n't severe weather . It 's what scientists refer to as a `` natural land movement , '' one that caused an estimated $ 20 million in damages .

CNN Heroes

AZUZ : Delivering meals to the hungry . Offering music education to keep kids off the streets . Providing prosthetic limbs to young people in need . Just some of the work being done by this year 's CNN Heroes . You can vote for the hero of the year at CNNStudentNews.com . Then tune in to a special program on CNN Thanksgiving night to find out who won .

Before We Go

AZUZ : Before we go , do you choose chocolate ? Savor strawberry ? Praise the virtues of vanilla ? No matter what your ice cream cravings are , chances are that Jaxson 's Parlour can meet them , just like it has been for more than half a century . We 're gon na give you fair warning on this next report though . If you 're not hungry before you watch this story , even if you just had lunch , you 're gon na be hungry again by the time it 's over . Check this out .

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MONROE UDELL , OWNER , JAXSON 'S ICE CREAM PARLOUR : My name is Monroe Udell . I 'm the owner of Jaxson 's , and I am the original owner of 53 years . I originally started it in 1956 . I made the ice cream myself . Double-dip ice cream cone was 15 cents .

The location is a landmark today . We 've always served humongous portions . We came up with the kitchen sink because people called their ice cream in kitchen sinks , which were actually in a punch bowl .

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE : Definitely worth the drive .

UDELL : We 're not a cookie cutter . We 're renowned , you know , in the industry as one of the outstanding ice cream parlors and restaurants in the country today . It 's still made right here . All the good fruits and nuts , we have n't changed a thing . We still do it the old-fashioned way .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE : I 'm in heaven .

UDELL : We 've had , you know , down time and good times with the economy .

CROWD : -LRB- SINGING -RRB- Happy birthday to you ...

UDELL : It 's about six weeks since I 've had my quadruple surgery , heart surgery . I 'm going to try to be here as long as I can . I hope another 50 years .

UNIDENTIFIED MALE : Oh my God !

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Goodbye

AZUZ : A kitchen sink full of ice cream ? That 's one way to make your troubles melt away . I know , I know , we can hear you groaning from here . But , listen . We 're working on a new Facebook video , and if you 've already seen our other ones , you already know they 're ... different . Swing by Facebook.com / cnnstudentnews and keep an eye out for our latest ! That eats up all our time for today . We will look forward to seeing you again tomrrow here at CNN Student News . Bye bye now .

@highlight

Map out the next steps for a health care plan after a Senate committee vote

@highlight

Explore the math on a U.S. commander 's request for more troops in Afghanistan

@highlight

Visit an old-fashioned ice cream parlor that 's serving up the kitchen sink